Macron in Corsica with autonomy for the island at the top of the agenda
Emmanuel Macron is on a two-day visit to Corsica during which he could make announcements on the island's autonomy that could be enshrined in the French constitution.
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President Macron will begin his visit on Wednesday with a "republican dinner" with local elected officials in the island's capital Ajaccio, before a much-anticipated speech to the Corsican Assembly on Thursday morning.
In addition to political events, he will pay tribute to Corsican resistance fighters on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the island's liberation in 1943.
Following the death in March 2022 of pro-independence militant Yvan Colonna – who was attacked in Arles prison where he was serving a life sentence for the assassination of Corsica's police prefect Claude Erignac in 1998 – and the violent demonstrations that followed across the island, the Paris government opened dialogue with Corsicans that could "go as far as autonomy."
The president's speech will mark several months of exchanges between Corsican elected representatives and government representatives "at all levels," according to the Elysée Palace.
On 5 July, the nationalists adopted an autonomy project advocating legislative power in all areas except sovereignty, which would be entrusted to the Corsican Assembly.
Nationalists also want Corsican residency status, co-officialisation of the Corsican language and inclusion of the notion of a Corsican people in the French constitution.
Red lines
In an interview with Corse-Matin on Monday, Bruno Retailleau, president of the Les Républicains group in the French Senate, said that the nationalists' demands contained insurmountable "red lines" and that "full legislative power" would go "too far".
Il lève le voile sur la position du groupe Les Républicains, majoritaire au Sénat, dont il est le président, face à la demande d'autonomie portée par la Corse ⬇https://t.co/sABZn4V67b
— Corse-Matin (@Corse_Matin) September 25, 2023
However, Macron would need a three-fifths majority – and therefore the Republicans' support in both the National Assembly and Senate – to reform the constitution.
He is therefore calling for a political agreement on the island, between the various nationalist groups and the right-wing opposition.
"Everything has not yet stabilised ... [but] positions are evolving in the direction of an acceptable rapprochement [between] the Corsican interlocutors," the Elysée Palace said on Tuesday, paving the way for possible presidential announcements this Thursday.
However, red lines set by the President a year ago remain unchanged: Corsica is to remain part of the Republic, and there will be no creation of two categories of citizens – notably in terms of priority for employment.
The co-officiality of the Corsican language is also not acceptable to Paris, but this "does not exclude making an effort in terms of bilingualism" according to the Elysée.
Moroccan rifleman
Meanwhile, at a ceremony in Ajaccio on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron will pay tribute to the memory of Fred Scamaroni, Corsica's "Jean Moulin", and Danielle Casanova, a Corsican Communist resistance fighter who was deported to Auschwitz.
He will then travel to Bastia for a ceremony in the presence of military units whose history is linked to the liberation of Corsica.
Macron will also decorate the last surviving Moroccan tirailleur, aged 104, as a number of Moroccans from the Free French Forces – renowned for their ability to fight in the mountains – were stationed in Corsica.
Corsica was the first French territory to be liberated, on 4 October 1943, thanks to a popular uprising and the help of French troops from Africa.
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